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M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

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Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware features.

M6-MacBook-Pro-Feature-1.jpg

If you are planning to skip the M5 ‌MacBook Pro‌, or you're just plain curious about what's coming next, here are the biggest changes rumored to be coming to Apple's premium laptop line and when to expect them – as well as what you'll likely have to pay.


M6 Series Chip
2nm Process
Apple is in the process of updating the current MacBook Pro lineup with M5 series chips, with the base model already refreshed and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch models expected early next year. The chips are manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P, resulting in typical year-over-year performance and power efficiency improvements compared to the M4 series of chips. However, Apple's redesigned MacBook Pro models are expected to boast M6 chips, which could adopt a completely new packaging process.

According to one rumor, Apple's A20 chip in next year's iPhone 18 models will switch from the previous InFo (Integrated Fan-Out) packaging to WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging. WMCM integrates multiple chips within the same package, allowing for the development of more complex chipsets. Components such as the CPU, GPUs, DRAM, and Neural Engine would therefore be more tightly integrated. While we don't know for sure, this could see Apple develop the M6 using the 2nm process while taking advantage of WMCM packaging to make even more powerful versions of its custom processor.

OLED Display
Goodbye, mini-LED
Several rumors have indicated that Apple is developing MacBook Pro models with OLED displays. Display analyst Ross Young in September 2024 said that Apple's supply chain is expected to have sufficient notebook-optimized OLED display production capacity in 2026 to bring the technology to MacBook Pro. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that Apple is readying a revamped MacBook Pro with OLED technology, citing people within Apple with knowledge of the matter. Compared to current MacBook Pro models that use mini-LED screens, the benefits of OLED technology would include increased brightness, higher contrast ratio with deeper blacks, improved power efficiency for longer battery life, and more.

Thinner, Lighter Laptop
Major Redesign
The switch to OLED displays could allow future MacBook Pro models to have a thinner design, and rumors suggest that is indeed what Apple intends. When the M4 iPad Pro was unveiled in May 2024, Apple touted it as the company's thinnest product ever. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman subsequently called the iPad Pro the "beginning of a new class of Apple devices." He has since reported that the new machines, code-named K114 and K116, will have "thinner and lighter frames." Apple is apparently focusing on delivering the thinnest possible device without compromising on battery life or major new features.

Notably, the MacBook Pro got thicker and heavier with its most recent redesign in 2021. A major highlight was the reintroduction of several ports that were removed in previous iterations in favor of chassis thinness. How Apple will make its redesigned MacBook Pro thinner without removing the functionality it reintroduced fairly recently is the big question.

Punch-Hole Camera
No More Notch
If you are fed up of the notch intruding on your Mac display, here's some good news. Apple plans to remove the notch from the redesigned MacBook Pro, according to a roadmap shared by research firm Omdia. The roadmap indicates that redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will have a hole-punch camera at the top of the display, rather than the notch we've become accustomed to. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has since corroborated the claim, saying that the design "leaves a display area around the sensor... similar in concept to the Dynamic Island on the iPhone."

Such a move would mirror Apple's iPhone evolution, since the iPhone's notch became the current Dynamic Island starting with the iPhone 14 Pro models in 2022. It's unclear whether the MacBook Pro would include Dynamic Island functionality or simply adopt the visual design, but the change would at least address long-standing user complaints about the notch, which physically ingresses into the macOS menu bar.

5G Modem
Cellular Connectivity
Earlier this year, Apple introduced the C1, its custom-built 5G modem chip which debuted in the entry-level iPhone 16e. More recently, Apple debuted the ‌iPhone Air‌ equipped with a new C1X chip, which is up to 2x faster than the C1. According to Apple, the C1X is the most power-efficient modem in an iPhone. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, App... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/27/m6-macbook-pro-release-date-pricing-what-to-expect/
Not worth if if the price goes up by several hundred. Mac Studio and monitor for me going forward.... MUCH better value. May well get one at the next revision actually and sell my MacBook Pro.
 
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jz0309 said:
As always, buy what you need at the time you need it, waiting for new technology - you’ll be waiting forever
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Well, sure, but then use common sense. If it's inevitable Apple is about to release a new MBP or whatever in the next month, and assuming you're not desperate, it pays to wait a short time to make sure you're getting the newest for the same money. And Apple is largely consistent with releases so you should have a good idea when the new models are coming out.

But I'd agree - no need to hold out for a late 2026 or 2027 model if you need a new one now.

Personally, I got a new MBP about 2 weeks before the next year's models were expected to be announced (and they did in fact come out). But they were on hefty sale, so I decided saving $700 was worth having what was about to be the prior generation. I'd be pretty annoyed if I'd paid full price.
 
30+ year Windows user here planning a move to Mac. I'm not waiting for the M6 MacBooks, I'm too excited about making the move to wait until then. My first Apple PC is going to be a 14" M5 Pro MacBook. I definitely need a 1TB internal drive (I don't want to travel with an external enclosure) and while 16GB of RAM would be OK the extra headroom of 24GB would be nice.

If pricing follows the pattern established by the M4 based MacBooks then, since the 14C/20C Pro chip variant has 24GB/1TB as its baseline configuration that is a model that tends to be available at about a 10% discount from 3rd party resellers so it only ends up being about $200/£200 more expensive that a non-Pro M-Series version once you upgrade that non-Pro variant to a 24GB/1TB configuration. If things work out the same way a few months after the M5 Pro MacBook is announced then £200 more on a £2,000 device to get the dual fan cooling, TB5 instead of TB4 and what will almost certainly be a whole load of extra performance as well seems like the sweet spot to me.

With rumours of M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBooks "early next year" (by the end of March if not earlier?) and rumours that the new OLED models might even come out by the end of that same year (2026) I'm hopeful that within a couple of months of the M5 Pro MacBook coming out we will start seeing the same sort of ~10% discounts on that model as we currently see on the baseline 14C/20C M4 Pro MacBook configuration.
 
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It would be surprising to me that the new base M5 MacBook Pro released last week will remain in this chassis for an extended period and will not be upgraded with all these features.
 
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jpallarest said:
Is a MacBook Air with Pro Motion a possibility? Need an iPhone Air in Mac form.
Click to expand...
Probably at some point down the road they'll offer the Air with similar display as either the default or a BTO option, not unlike what happened to the base iPhone. Which is a shame, because if I could get the Air's thin and light chassis with the Pro's screen it would be perfect for me. Curious to see how much more thin and light the Pro model gets with the late 2026/early 2027 redesign.
 
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SpotOnT said:
Not buying any laptop with a touchscreen.

I road out the thermally throttled, touchbar, butterfly keyboard MacBook Pros, and will do the same again.
Click to expand...
Well, the nice thing about a touchscreen is that you don't have to use it if you don't want to.
 
Why after all these years - where basically every Windows Laptop removed the nonsensical touchscreen it is now introduced to the Macbook? It makes no sense to me. I cannot imagine any useful application for this.
 
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IF...they ever do a touch MB/MB Pro, it would be offered as an option, like nano texture display, etc..It just doesn't make sense to include this in a standard MB/MB Pro, since most people would never use it, in a Desktop oriented system....just look at Windows notebooks, the Desktop metaphor doesn't benefit a lot from touch. The iPad/iPad Pro are "touch first" UI's and it's the primary method of interaction (like an iPhone).

I'll believe it when I see it...

All that being said, on some occasions, touch can be useful...video and audio editing, etc.
 
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